Hyde Name Origins.

The name "HYDE" is derived from the hide, a measure of land for taxation purposes, taken to be that area of land necessary to support a peasant family. In later times it was taken to be equivalent to 120 acres .

March 2014

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Friday, 17 August 2012

Prefabs in Gee Cross

A few weeks ago we spoke about the prefabs and steel houses that were built after the end of WW2 . Someone mentioned the ones that stood behind the Grapes pub in Gee Cross and Ken Smith very kindly sent us this newspaper cutting and some information about them.

Over to Ken -

"Looking through the blogs recently I came across a request for
information regarding the prefab estate constructed behind the Grapes
Hotel shortly after the end of WW2.

I lived on the estate with
my parents from its first occupation until September 1952, when I joined
the RAF as an Aircraft Apprentice, with just one short break during 1951
when our house burned down!

I enclose a newspaper cutting from the time which may remind some of your readers of the occasion.

Incidentally, I now live on the plot of land almost immediately opposite that of the house that burned down !!"

Thank you, Ken, for sharing what must be an unforgettable memory. I'm one of those who mentioned the Wych Fold prefabs as I remember them and knew people who lived in them. This story is tragic. I like the North Cheshire reporter's attention to detail in his write-up.

Must have been so tragic for you and your family at the time Ken. I was only aged five in 1951, so knew nothing about this prefab fire, but I vaguely remember the prefabs from my time spent at Enfield St infants school in the fifties, the teachers would sometimes take us on nature walks up into the fields around what must now be the top of Lord Derby Road. I seem to recall a dirt pathway somwhere near the well/dairy area on Wych Fold, Is this right Ken?

its me again, with a correction to my last comment, the path I vaguely remember from all those years ago was somewhere near the well, but I recall now that there was a bakery in this area of Wych Fold. Does anyone remember the bakery? And when did the Express Dairy arrive in the area?

" rish's comment about the path close to the well on Wych Fold is correct. It followed the boundary wall of the Grapes Hotel up past the bowling green. It was often overgrown and covered in puddles after rain but it did save walking all the way round the road! Trish also mentioned the dairy but when the prefabs were first built it was Wilson's bakery opposite which was Littlewood's farm from where the photograph appearing under the heading 'Gee Cross' of a view from the top of Hudson Road would seem to have been taken "

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A place of interest for Hydonians.

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Tom, Dave, Paul and I would like to say thank you to everyone for contributing to this blog in some small way - even if that means just reading it! It's been more of a success than we could ever have dreamt of and that's all down to you ! It was our intention to get Hyde "on the record" as it were and it seems to be heading in the right direction. We are very proud of Hyde and would like it's history to live on!